sudden stars
by Elendraug
Summary: this story is about spaceship furniture. slash. hammer and tony. XSI, elsa.


xenosaga episode I. hammer & tony. set the first time the elsa is docked on the durandal at the kukai foundation. R. characters belong to monolith soft and namco.

**...sudden stars**

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"Well, I for one am officially sick and tired of unnecessary complications."

Tony startles awake, blinking for a while before looking over his shoulder. "Hmmm?"

Hammer walks forward and leans against Tony's chair, watching the rather dull wall of the Durandal's interior hangar. "All this drama is making me miss sifting through space junk."

"Heh, yeah. I'm sorry to say it, but space junk _does_ sound way more fun than dealing with this crap. Too bad Master Gaignun doesn't like it when we salvage parts."

Hammer snorts. "We basically got a polite version of 'cease and desist.' It's almost impossible to misinterpret instructions like that."

"Unfortunately. I mean, I can't say I _enjoy_ picking apart the belongings of the deceased, but the captain's _own_ whining is getting to be too much. Anything'd be better than just sitting here."

"There's nothing to do on this ship," Hammer agrees. "Even messing with the UMN can become tedious after a while."

Tony lifts an eyebrow and smirks. "You're only saying that 'cause messing with the UMN landed you here."

Narrowing his eyes, Hammer very maturely sticks his tongue out. Moments like these, Tony thinks, truly reinforce just how petulant they've all become. Except chaos. Somehow, chaos has always risen above the petty bickering that the rest of the crew constantly gets involved in. Then again, the guy spouts out-of-context philosophical advice and destroys the Gnosis with his mind, so he's weird as hell in his own ways.

"You're spacing out." Hammer's voice appears out of _nowhere_.

"What?" It takes Tony a moment to process this. "...oh. Right."

"I asked if you wanted to go get a drink," Hammer repeats, now that Tony's paying attention.

"Isn't the captain in there?"

Hammer shrugs. "Yeah, but we might as well go anyway. There's a persistent lack of entertainment here."

Frowning, Tony decides against it. "The only entertainment in the bar would be watching Captain Matthews get drunk and threaten Adonis' artificial life. It'd pretty much be a rerun."

"Point."

Tony crosses his arms behind his head and stares at the ceiling. "Shame we can't really leave the Elsa. Guaranteed chaos and the others would get back as soon as we tried to escape."

"Yeah, it'd be just our luck."

"Yep."

A few awkward moments pass without any further creativity. If crickets weren't extinct, Tony has a feeling they'd be chirping. He stretches, and winces when something in his neck crackles. "I'm starting to hate this damn seat."

Hammer doesn't respond right away, and when he does, it's not about spaceship furniture. "Tony, what I said before..." He pauses awkwardly, running a hand through his hair and dislodging a few strands from beneath his headphones. "I didn't..."

Smiling, Tony nods. "I know."

"To be completely honest, I think you're a great pilot. Really." He rests an ungloved hand on Tony's shoulder and squeezes just a little.

"And you aren't _always_ a stupid navigator." Tony grins, partially expecting Hammer to bitch at him, but he knows better by now. Instead of complaining, Hammer simply laughs, and this time, the conversation fades into comfortable silence.

After a minute or so of again watching the hangar's unremarkable walls, the gentle, reassuring weight of Hammer's hand evolves into the almost-as-gentle, reassuring pressure of a two-handed neck massage. Tony lets his eyes fall shut again, and finally can relax a bit as tension dissipates. He's on the brink of sleep when Hammer suddenly stops.

"Nnn. Done already?" He shifts back against his seat; he could use another nap. "Thanks."

Then Hammer kisses him.

"Oh...?" Tony's wide awake, and grinning even wider.

Hammer exhales against his cheek. "I can work with this development; can't you?"

"It's been a while, Hammer," Tony remarks, amused. "Too busy?" Sarcasm -- as if they haven't been plagued with an overabundance of free time.

Hammer rolls his eyes. "I'm personally going to blame our influx of mostly unwelcome passengers. No idea how chaos can be so amiable every single minute." Kissing Tony again, he murmurs, "We can make up for it now."

"No time like the present."

------

The cabin was designed for a luxury cruise ship; Hammer has _always_ appreciated this. The benefits of this serendipity are most apparent when Tony settles between his legs, the weight pressing him satisfyingly into the couch's expensive upholstery. Hammer manages to take off his glasses and headphones -- which is altogether too complicated when Tony's nuzzling his neck -- and drops them to the floor. The pilot could probably use a shower, but Hammer likes running fingers through his hair anyway. He doesn't know how Tony can stand to have bangs constantly in his face like that. It can't possibly help him see when he's maneuvering the Elsa...

That doesn't matter, though, because Tony's very good at flying and _very_ good at this. Hammer doesn't mind sharing, either; he's known Tony forever, and that _does_ matter. He thinks that if Ginevra had adopted the same policy, things might've worked out better for her.

Meanwhile, Tony has unzipped Hammer's vest and is pushing down both it and the jacket. He's never understood why Hammer wears so much; he, chaos, and the captain rarely feel cold. The Elsa's climate control is top-notch, after all. Tony makes a mental note to ask Hammer about this later. Once Hammer's shrugged out of the unnecessary clothing, Tony splays his hands across his friend's chest. If the undershirt's not enough to keep him warm...well.

It won't be a problem.

Hammer slides his palms up Tony's arms -- ridiculous that he can get that much muscle tone from steering a spaceship -- and shudders a little despite himself. He's jealous, he can admit it. For the time being he contents himself with simply admiring, and he shudders harder when Tony trails the touches across his stomach, shifts up, and thrusts down.

They find a good rhythm: leisurely and indulgent, for they can take as long as they want. Hammer strokes Tony's back, pulling him closer for slow, breathy kisses. Tony pants into Hammer's mouth, and lets his eyes slide shut when more tongue becomes involved.

Just as they're reevaluating whether or not it's worth the effort to take off their pants, Captain Matthews stumbles, half-drunk, into the room. Hammer sighs, irritated; absolutely perfect timing. Couldn't be better. Tony, who lost any shame about this years ago, is only mildly concerned that Matthews might envy them.

Luckily, the captain is far too preoccupied with grumbling about the many parts that the Elsa needs and the Huge Fucking Debt and colorful things about members of U-TIC and Vector Industries and freeloaders and hitchhikers to even notice. He continues out through the other door without sparing them a glance.

The initial shock rapidly turns into relief. Tony tucks his forehead against Hammer's shoulder, shaking with barely-controlled laughter.

"Ohhh man. That was like a hit list and an angry shopping list in one."

"Heh, that's our captain, alright. Sort of a mood-killer, though."

"Mmm. Not really," Tony insists, lifting his head. "It'll be fine."

Hammer gives him a look, though it softens into something much more affectionate. He raises a hand to Tony's cheek, petting him fondly, and is about to try for another kiss when Tony bursts out laughing hysterically. Hammer huffs, frustrated, and tries not to smack him upside the head.

"Sorry! I'm sorry, I just... I dunno, the eye contact and all. Sorry."

"You are a gigantic whore."

"Hammer, really, I'm--" Tony clears his throat. "Okay, I'm done. Seriously."

Skeptical, Hammer gives him another look. "Somehow, I don't believe you."

"Oh, come on..."

To prove his point, Tony kisses him hard and grinds their hips together. Hammer inhales sharply and kisses back, pressing up against him wantonly. In situations like this, it's perfectly acceptable for Tony to act like an out-of-control lunatic; he knows very well what he's doing. He runs his tongue along Hammer's jawline and kisses his neck, breathing heavily next to his ear. It's sort of a weird sound at first, but definitely a turn-on.

"I think," Tony mumbles, "we're good now."

Abruptly he sits up, supporting his weight on his knees and straddling Hammer's thighs. The navigator watches the very short-lived striptease as Tony yanks his pants down, then moves to attack Hammer's fly. Quickly but not soon enough, they're flush against each other in Tony's grip. He leans forward, further supporting himself with a hand on the back of the couch; Hammer reaches down to help. There's pumping, pulling, stroking, sliding, and sweat-slicked _friction_, and then they really _are_ good now.

Collapsing against Hammer's chest, Tony listens to Hammer's in-and-exhalations while struggling to regain his own breath. Shifting up a little, he settles comfortably against his friend, nestles his arms against Hammer's sides, and allows his eyes to slide closed. Hammer holds him, idly finger-combing his hair. Basking in the dimming heat of the afterglow, they allow the siren song of sleep to overtake them.

Tony kisses Hammer's collarbone and Hammer kisses Tony's head and they're safe and warm and can finally get some rest.

------

"Hey, Tony?"

"Fnrhghmfff."

A dark, blurry shape blocks the cabin's light. Said shape moves to jostle his arm, demanding he wake up.

"Buhhhh...?"

chaos shakes his head, a small smile barely noticeable. "The captain needs you two; the Elsa's going to depart soon. He sent me to get you."

Tony shifts on Hammer's chest, accidentally elbowing him in the ribs. The navigator makes a disgruntled noise, but stubbornly keeps his eyes closed.

"He said that?"

Smiling a bit more broadly, chaos averts his gaze to the ceiling and folds his arms behind his back. "Well, to be precise, he said to 'tell those useless sons-of-bitches to get their lazy asses to the bridge,' and also ' to clean up the fucking couch when they're done.' I figured you could make do with the abridged version at first."

"Ehhh." Tony turns his head and talks into Hammer's shirt. "Be there in a minute."

"Sounds great, Tony. I'll let him know."

------

chaos chuckles to himself all the way back.


End file.
